BBC News with Julie Candler.

The judge delivering her verdict in the trial of the South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has cleared him of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp but said he acted negligently and he used excessive force. Correspondents say Judge Thokozile Masipa was expected to deliver a verdict of culpable homicide or manslaughter. Andrew Hardie reports from Pretoria.

In brisk fashion, Judge Thokozile Masipa dismissed large chance of the prosecutions case against Oscar Pistorius. She said neighbors who had heard a woman's screaming the night Reeva Steenkamp died must have been mistaken, perhaps influenced by media coverage of this trial.

The probability is that some witnesses failed to separate what they knew personally from what they had heard from other people or what they gathered from the media.

Judge Masipa said the defense's timeline of events was credible and there was no evidence that the couple who had exchanged angry text messages weeks earlier had been arguing that night.

Ten Arab countries including Saudi Arabia have agreed to help the United States in its fight against the Islamic State militants. The announcement followed a meeting with the US Secretary of State John Kerry in Jeddah. The group also agreed to stop the flow of funds and fighters to IS which controls large swath of Syria and Iraq. Our correspondent Plett Usher is travelling with Mr. Kerry.

The Arab states issued a communiqué agreeing to do their share in the fight against Islamic State militants including, they said, joining the many aspects of a coordinated military campaign as appropriate. Mr. Kerry told the BBC the details of who does what are still being worked out. But participants recognized the danger opposed by the group and fully backed President Obama's strategy to combat it. He downplayed the fact that Turkey didn't sign the communiqué, saying it has sensitive issues to deal with but was onboard nonetheless. Islamic States is holding dozens of Turks hostage.

The French authorities have arrested a man they suspect of recruiting people to join Islamic militants fighting in Syria. The Interior Ministry describe Mourad Fares as a particularly dangerous individual.

President Obama says the United States would join the European Union in imposing tougher sanctions on Russia over its intervention in Ukraine. Mr. Obama said the sanctions would increase Moscow's political isolation as Virgini Vaiginason reports from Washington.

Several rounds of sanctions have already been imposed on Russian interests. Among US officials' argue they have been infecting and hurting the Russian economy, they've yet to soften Vladimir Putin's resolve. This latest action will include the targeting on Russian banks and other financial institutions, cutting their access to US capital. Sanctions against the energy and defense sectors will also be deepened. The White House hopes the measures will isolate Russia and personally impact President Putin and those close to him.

BBC News.

Hundreds of thousands of people have joined a rally in the Spanish city of Barcelona to demand that their Catalan region be allowed to hold a Scottish-style vote on its split from Spain. They want a similar referendum to be held in November. But the BBC's correspondent who's been in the rally Tom Morris said opinions is divided.

The polls say roughly, and depending on the question that put to people, roughly it's a straight yes-no question on independence. It's for a display of around 50% might go for an independent state from Spain. But there are many barriers for the Catalan government which wants this referendum and all these people down here in the crowd below me. Because the Spanish government says it was unconstitutional and illegal and actually the Constitutional Court in Madrid is due to rule in a matter of weeks on the referendum in Catalonia. And I will be very surprised if they play a rule that it will be unconstitutional.

A group of traditional elders in northern Nigeria say Boko Haram militants have completely surrounded Maidugari, the capital of Borno State. The Bono Elders Forum called on the ministry to increase fortifications to prevent a major assault.

Congress in Buenos Aires has approved a bill to restructure the country's debt and sidestep a recent US court ruling that calls Argentina to default. Under the restructuring plan Argentina will be able to pay creditors locally beyond the reach of the American courts. The US judgment had prevented any payments until two US hedge funds were fully reimbursed. The ruling led to Argentina's second default in 13 years.

A football club in Argentina supported by Pope Francis has announced it'll name its new stadium after the pontiff. The club San Lorenzo is funding to build the new stadium in a working class neighborhood in the Argentine capital. It'll be built on land seized from the club during military rule which ended in 1983. Some supporters have joked that their recent success is down to Papal support.

BBC News.